General Information on Workshops

The following details are applicable to the workshops held in 2008. Applicants will be duly informed of any changes.

Time
430pm – 730pm

Venue
RELC 604, Level 6
- RELC is located @ RELC International Hotel, 30 Orange Grove Road (off Orchard Road), Singapore 258352

Registration Fee
Early Bird Discount: $64.20* (registration at least 2 weeks before event day)
FTSCs / STU Members / UB-CAE Alumni: $64.20*
Full Rate: $80.25*
Onsite Rate: $96.30* (registration on event day)
* Fees are inclusive of 7% GST

Note: A 5% rebate will be given at the end of the workshop series to applicants who attend all 4 workshops. All payments are non-refundable.

The registration fee is non-refundable and payment must be made at least 3 days before the workshop dates. Payment can be made via cash, cheque or credit card. Cheques are to be made payable to ‘Center for American Education Pte Ltd’ and credit cards can be used only at the CAE office.

To register, please download the registration form.

Workshop 1 - Download Brochure HERE

Using Rational-Emotive Therapy in Schools

Date: 19 September 2008 (Early bird registrations must be before 5 Sep 2008)

Synopsis

This workshop will focus on the application of rational emotive behavior (REBT) strategies in working with children and adolescents. REBT strategies have been successfully utilized in schools in the U.S to improve academic achievement and behavioral problems. Educators and counselors attending the workshop will learn how to employ the REBT model, with its emphasis on creative and developmentally appropriate techniques to elicit feelings and identify and dispute irrational beliefs that are the root of many problematic behaviors. Dr. Vernon will present numerous innovative and practical techniques and use a demonstration video to illustrate the counseling process with children and adolescents. Participants will also be provided with detailed handouts.

About The Speaker

Dr. Ann Vernon, Ph.D., NCC, LMHC, is Professor Emeritus, University of Northern Iowa where she served as Professor and Coordinator of the School and Mental Health Counseling Programs for 25 years. Dr. Vernon is Vice President of the Albert Ellis Board of Trustees and is considered one of the leading experts in the world on applications of REBT with children and adolescents. She currently conducts REBT training programs in Romania at the University of Oradea, the RINO Mental Health Center in Amsterdam, and throughout Australia for the Australian Center for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. For many years she has been an active presenter throughout the United States, Canada, and South America and offers workshops on a variety of topics related to counseling children and developing comprehensive school counseling programs.

Dr. Vernon has published numerous books, including

• Assessment and Intervention with Children and Adolescents: Developmental and Multicultural Considerations (with R. Clemente)
• What Works When with Children and Adolescents: A Handbook of Individual Counseling Techniques
• Thinking, Feeling, Behaving: An Emotional Education Curriculum for Children
• Thinking Feeling Behaving: An Emotional Education Curriculum for Adolescents
• The Passport Program: A Journey through Development.

Dr. Vernon is also the editor of 4 editions of Counseling Children and Adolescents, a popular textbook used in many counselor education programs, and is the co-editor with T. Kottman of Counseling Theories: Practical Applications for Children and Adolescents in School Settings. Dr. Vernon is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence, the ACES Professional Service Award, the Outstanding Contributions Award for Improving the Status of School Counseling ( Iowa), the UNI College of Education Service Award, the University of Iowa Outstanding Alumni Award, and the Iowa School Counselor Lifetime Contribution Award.

She has been a member or chair of numerous professional committees including the American Counseling Association Restructuring Task Force, as well as a member of several editorial boards. She had a very successful private practice in Iowa for several years where she specialized in working with children, adolescents, and parents.

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Workshop 2 - Download Brochure HERE

Using Sandtray in Play Therapy

Date: 24 October 2008 (Early bird registrations must be before 13 Oct 2008)

Synopsis

Sandtrays are currently being used in classroom guidance, in small groups, and in individual counseling in schools. A reason for the increased use of this therapeutic technique is that it gives safe expression to non-verbalized emotional issues, and provides a kinesthetic experience for the child with poor verbal skills. This experiential, hands-on workshop will bring sandtray techniques to life through teaching, demonstration, and personal experience.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will understand the therapeutic use of sandtray and its various applications.
• Participants will experience use of sandtray from both the client and therapist perspective.
• Participants will gain knowledge of the process of using sandtray and categories of miniatures.
• Participants will gain knowledge of using sandtray with individuals and groups in various settings.

Topics for workshop:

• History of the therapeutic uses of a sandtray
• Materials for sandtray
• Conducting a sandtray session
• Processing a sandtray session
• Uses in play therapy, schools, and mental health settings
• Directive and nondirective sandtray/sandplay
• Experiences in the sand and in sandtrays

About The Speaker

Dr. Marijane Fall is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, Maine. A former elementary school counselor, Marijane focuses her University teaching on school counseling, play therapy, counseling children and adults, and supervision. Her research has centered primarily on counseling children in schools, self-efficacy, and supervision.

She has presented at more than 100 national and state conferences and workshops, has co-authored a book with Dr. Jack Sutton, and authored 28 journal articles and book chapters as well as numerous newsletter articles. Dr. Fall’s service has centered around the same interests as her teaching and research. She was the initiator and principal organizer for the Maine Play Therapy Association. This organization has brought knowledge of play therapy through conferences and workshops to many clinicians who work with children in the State of Maine. She has served as officer for the organization since its inception.

In addition, Marijane and has held office and served on national and state committees and boards connected with counseling, play therapy, and supervision. Marijane is now retired from the University and maintains a private practice in counseling and supervision. She remains an active presenter at conferences and teaches courses as an adjunct professor.

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Workshop 3 - Download Brochure HERE

Transforming School Counseling

Date: 5 December 2008 (Early bird registrations must be before 21 Nov 2008)

Synopsis

School counselors are new on the educational scene in Singapore, and are still faced with the challenges of defining the role and function of counseling programs in the school, evaluating their effectiveness and proving their impact on student outcomes to their principals, colleagues, parents and the school as a whole. This workshop is aimed at counselors, principals and educators who are committed to addressing these challenges. Participants will learn about the current American School Counseling Association’s (ASCA) school counseling model which provides an excellent framework for schools to clarify the function of school counselors, to effectively develop and implement a comprehensive, data-driven, curriculum-based, integrative and a systems-focused model of school counseling, as well as evaluate its effectiveness.

Participants will learn

• The nuts and bolts of implementing the ASCA model,
• How to develop mission statement, standards, competencies, & indicators
• Analyze school and student data to identify current strengths & areas of improvement, and determine priorities and action plans
• How to evaluate the effectiveness of such a program and develop accountability
• Outcomes research from schools in the U.S. that have adopted the ASCA model, testifying to its efficacy as an approach in transforming schools.

This workshop will not only be useful to school counselors but will be of interest to principals and other educators who are committed to creating a positive school climate that fosters emotional well-being and academic success for all students and would like to learn the potential benefit and positive student outcomes of adopting a comprehensive school counseling model such as the ASCA model. For more information, please see www.schoolcounselor.org)

About The Speaker

(Dr. Carolyn Stone, Past President of the American School Counseling Association (ASCA)) Dr. Carolyn Stone has been a Counselor Educator at the University of North Florida since 1995 where she teaches and researches in the area of school counselors and accountability and legal and ethical issues.  Prior to becoming a counselor educator, Dr. Stone spent 22 years with the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida where she served as a middle school teacher, elementary and high school counselor and Supervisor of Guidance for 225 counselors.

Dr. Stone served as the American School Counselor Association’s Ethics Chair for six years and was President of American School Counseling Association (ASCA) . She is a past President of the Florida Counseling Association and the Florida Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors. Carolyn has delivered over 400 workshops in 48 states and 14 countries. Her professional path in elementary and high school counseling, middle school teaching, Supervisor of Guidance for the nation’s fifteenth largest school district, and counselor educator has prepared her with first hand experience and understanding of the professional world of school counselors. Among the books she has authored or co-authored about the school counseling field include The Transformed School Counselor , School Counselor Accountability, School Counseling Principles: Ethics & Law

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Workshop 4

Internal Family Systems

Date: 20 March 2009 (Early bird registrations must be before 6 Mar 2008)

Synopsis

This introductory workshop in Internal Family Systems Therapy is designed to introduce counselors to a new and powerful model for working with difficult clients. It is gentle, respectful, and collaborative. Participants will be engaged by taking an inner journey to discover the richness of their internal lives and will be introduced to model’s principles and techniques to help their clients to heal deep wounds safely and effectively.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy was developed in the mid-1980s by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., one of the leading teachers and writers in the field of Family Therapy.

In discovering that many of his traumatized clients would describe their symptoms in relation to “parts of themselves” or aspects of their “true selves”, Dr. Schwartz embarked on a journey to uncover the rich inner lives of his clients’ “inner families”. He soon found that everyone has internal “parts”, or a multiplicity of distinct and complete sub-personalities that interact internally as do people in our external worlds. Along with this discovery, he found that all people have a “core” personality, or Self, that provides leadership to our internal system and connects us with the larger system. When our parts trust ourselves to lead, then we experience balance and harmony internally; when our Self has lost trust by our parts through trauma or devaluing experiences, we experience inner conflicts and extreme thoughts and beliefs (i.e. “burdens”). IFS therapy was developed to restore the Self in the position of internal “leader” of our system and to release these burdens.

After working for several years with individuals, he developed a model for understanding this phenomenon of “internal family systems”. From his work, a therapeutic model has evolved which is client-driven, respectful, and gentle. The model applies family systems concepts, adapted to working with individuals by taking them on inner journeys to discover their various parts and to help them restore their Selves to hold a trustworthy and central place in the system. The model has shown success in treating a range of presenting problems, including sexual abuse and trauma, substance abuse, eating disorders, psychosomatic disorders, anxiety and depression, and relational conflicts.

About The Speaker

Ralph S. Cohen, Ph.D., LMFT is a Professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy at Central Connecticut State University and is the Director of the Master’s program in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is also Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine and is an Approved Supervisor for the American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (AAMFT). As a licensed Psychologist and Marriage & Family Therapist, Dr. Cohen has a private practice in West Hartford, Connecticut, working with individuals, couples, and families.

Dr. Cohen has trained with the Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) founder, Dr. Richard Schwartz since 1997. Dr. Cohen coordinates the IFS Continuing Education program at Central Connecticut State University. He is lead trainer for the 120-hour certificate program in IFS under Dr. Schwartz. He has presented at national and local conferences on the use of IFS in training and clinical contexts. He uses the IFS model extensively in his clinical practice and in his teaching.

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